PFC 13 "Validation" Results
By Zeke Gonzales/ Photos TopfueldadA title was not on the line, but it didn’t matter as Doug ‘The Rhino’ Marshall took on Jaime ‘El Cucui’ Jara in a middleweight main event fight at PFC 13: Validation at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore on Friday.

Marshall the former World Extreme Cagefighting light-heavyweight champion and Jara the King of the Cage champion met and fans were excited for the fight, and with credentials like that the two did not disappoint the capacity crowd. Marshall was able to dictate the pace when the two were standing up, but Jara had the clear advantage when they tied up and on the ground. In the end Marshall won a controversial 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 split decision. FUNews.Net scored it 29-28 for Jara.

The fight came down to the second round, as each won a round decisively. In the second, Marshall started out with some big kicks that knocked Jara off his game. While tied up Marshall got several kicks in that landed in Jara’s gut. Later in the round Jara had Marshall tied up and was attempting to take Marshall down, but the Visalia fighter fell out of the ring as they had a restart. Jara was clearly the aggressor in the round, and he got another takedown to end the round.

The first round went to Marshall as he got a big kick in that stunned Jara, but the third round went to the North Highland’s fighter. Jara took Marshall down and nearly got a choke submission, and it seemed as if Marshall was going to tapout, but the Rhino was able to squirm out of the move.

The decision was an unpopular one with the crowd as most in attendance were rooting for Jara.

Olaf Alfonso vs. Kyle ‘Humboldt’ Pimentel
(PFC Welterweight Championship)Pimentel captured Alfonso’s PFC Welterweight title as he won by technical knockout in 2:48 of the third round after the ringside physician advised the referee to stop the fight because of blood. Pimentel imposed his will on the popular Alfonso, taking him down at will.

It looked as if the referee was going to stop the fight in the second round after Pimentel got on top of Alfonso and hit him repeatedly for nearly the entire round, and at times Alfonso seemed that he could not defend himself. But both fighters were cut in the third round, and after exchanging punches in the round the referee stepped in and had the ringside physician check Alfonso’s cut.

Casey ‘The Underdog’ Olson vs. Eddie ‘Filipino Phenom’ Yagin (featherweights)In a hotly contested bout Yagin threw a big overhand right that sent Olson to the ground and Yagin jumped on him and got the guillotine choke in 1:16 of the first round to win the fight. Olson said in his prefight interview that he believed it would be a ground and pound fight, but Yagin decided to throw punches instead and it paid off for him. Yagin, from Las Vegas, is now 13-3-1 (5 KOs), while Fresno’s Olson is now 9-3 (2 KOs).

Dominique ‘Fallen Angel’ Robinson vs. Carlo ‘Knee-O’ Prater
(PFC World Lightweight Championship)Prater, from Brasilia, Brazil, captured the title with a convincing 49-46, 49-46, 49-46 win over Robinson. During the entire five rounds the two combatants would exchange punches and kicks in the center of the ring, but when Prater would get a takedown against Robinson,
from East Oakland, would squirm his way out and get back to his feet. And the two would again exchange punches and kicks. Prater is now 24-6-1 (13 submissions), while Robinson drops to 14-3-1 (10 KOs).

Phil ‘The Pain’ Collin vs. Leopoldo Serao
(PFC World Middleweight Championship)This fight was called off the day of the fight after Serao got a staph infection in one of his fingers. Serao spent Friday in the hospital. The two will fight on Sept. 25 for the vacant title.

Cole ‘The Apache Kid’ Escovedo vs. Michael ‘Mayday’ McDonald
(bantamweights)The referee stopped the fight in 2:25 of the second round after Escovedo punched McDonald for about a minute straight as he was on top of him and McDonald could not defend himself.
The fight seemed over after it looked as if McDonald, from Oakdale, tapped out at the end of the first round, but the referee in charge did not see the tap. Escovedo, from Fresno, started the second round off strong as he walked through McDonald’s punches for a takedown, then he almost and a choke to end the fight, but changed and got on top and started punching McDonald until the referee stopped the fight.

Pat Runez vs. Anthony Perales
(PFC World Lightweight Championship)Runez, from Scottsdale, AZ, captured the vacant title with a rear-naked chokehold in 2:28 of the second round against Visalia’s Perales.
While tied up trying to get position Runez flipped Perales to the ground and was able to get his opponent to tap out and capture the title. Runez is now 6-0 in his career, while Perales is 3-1.

Bryan ‘The Bull’ Travers vs. John ‘Guns’ Gunderson
(lightweights)Travers, out of Bakersfield, used a superior ground game as he constantly took down Gunderson on his way to a unanimous 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 decision. Travers took Gunderson, from Houston, Texas, down in every round, and worked to get in position for a submission, but was never able to as he came close several times during the bout. Travers is now 12-1 with 3 Kos, while Gunderson is 19-7 with 12 submissions.

Erin ‘Steel’ Toughill vs. Emily ‘Time Bomb’ Thompson
(featherweights)Toughill, of American Gladiator fame, handed Thompson her first MMA loss as all three judges scored it 30-27 in the unanimous decision. Thompson attempted to take down Toughill (10-2-1, 4 Kos), from Huntington Beach, but she was able to fight off all attempts, and in return was able to hold the smaller but more aggressive Thompson (4-1, 2 KOs) used her superior boxing skills where she is 7-3-1 as a professional with punches to the head and kicks to the midsection.

Darren ‘D.C.’ Crisp vs. Gabe ‘Godzilla’ Ruediger
(lightweights)Ruediger, out of Rancho Cucamonga, defeated Crisp, from Lemoore, with a guillotine choke in 1:03 of the first round. Ruediger improved his record to 12-5 with eight submissions and four knockouts. Ruediger, who was part of UFC’s Ultimate Fighter season 5 shows, took Crisp down early in the first round, and then easily got the guillotine on him.

Scott McAfee vs. Bill Theofanopols
(lightweights)McAfee improved his record to 8-1 with four knockouts with a knockout in 43 seconds in the second round.
The Sacramento native threw a big overhand right that knocked Theofanopols (3-2, 3 submissions) down and the referee jumped in to stop the fight. Theofanopols, from Oakdale, threw a lazy jab just before McAfee connected with his haymaker. The two had a big opening round as they both connected with some big punches in the round.

Marcelo Guidici vs. John ‘Wild Child’ Reedy
(lightweights)Reedy, a native of Turlock, CA, defeated Guidici, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, by a unanimous decision in the night’s first fight. All three judges scored it 30-27. Reedy improved his record to 6-3 with two knockouts and four submissions, while dropping Guidici to 8-2. The two felt each other out early on by using kicks, but it was Reedy who was able to knock Guidici to the ground all three rounds. While Reedy was punching him on the ground Guidici didn’t do much. In the second round he did attempt an arm bar but was unable to get it locked as time ran out of the round.

BEST OF BOTH WORLD'S 2

By DAMIAN MARQUEZ

LEMOORE – The boxers had their chance to strut their stuff in the Best of Both Worlds II boxing/mixed martial arts hybrid card at the Tachi Hotel Palace and Casino.

And after three knockouts and three decisions, it was time for the mixed martial arts fighters to put their skills on display in five Palace Fighting Championship bouts.

And they did not disappoint.

Highlighting the mixed martial arts portion of the show was former two-time All-American wrestler Chad Mendes taking on his toughest opponent to date, “King Arthur” Art Arcienega who is a former PFC featherweight champion.

Mendes excelled against the tougher competition, pulling out a unanimous-decision victory over the former champ.

Mendes, who improved to 3-0 in his career, was never really in trouble throughout the bout. Any time Arcienega got within Mendes’ reach he was overpowered and taken to the ground.

Mendes dominated the first round with his ground and pound, and did more of the same in the second round, highlighting the round with some big slams. In the third round, Arcienega did not force the issue and Mendes was more than happy to pick his spots. All three judges scored the bout 30-27.

Mendes put on a show for his hometown fans. He attended Hanford High School before moving on to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to wrestle collegiately. There he was a two-time NCAA All-American.

Win, lose or draw, one thing is certain, Shawn Bias will put on a show for the fans.

But this time, he found himself on the wrong side of the decision against Enoch Wilson.

Wilson locked in a kneebar 1:21 into the second round, forcing Bias to tap out.

The fight was very sluggish on both ends, but with a lot of action before Wilson locked in the submission.

The submission specialist out of Portland , Ore.improved to 15-6-1 with 11 submissions, and Bias dropped 13-8.

The two Sergios put on quite a show for the Lemoore fans.

In a back-and-forth and action-packed fight, it was Sergio Cortez pulling out the very close split-decision victory, 29-28, 28-29, 29-28, over Sergio Quinones, of Lemoore.

The fight had several momentum shifts with each fighter imposing his will at one time or another.

But in the third round, Cortez controlled most of the action from the mounted position. Even though Quinones managed a reversal and ended the fight in a better position, the most damage had been done by Cortez.

Cortez, of Huron, improved to 5-5, and Quinones dropped to 4-4.

In what is quickly becoming a trend for the PFC, the women turned in a very exciting bantamweight bout.

Sarah Kaufman and Sarah Schneider fought at a furious pace for 1 ½ rounds before the fight was stopped.

Kaufman improved to 8-0 after the fight was stopped 1:43 into the second round because of strikes. Both fighters were relentless for the duration of the fight, but Kaufman managed to mount Schneider and pummel her until the referee stepped in to stop the action.

Kengo Ura, who said he was coming back from a layoff because of an injury, defeated Doug Hunt 2:44 into the first round.

Ura locked in a rear-naked choke, forcing Hunt to tap out. Ura improved to 6-4 in his career with four submissions. Hunt dropped to 4-3.